What’s Your Style? Take the Quiz
Have you ever bought a piece of furniture or decor, and when you got it home thought, “What was I thinking?” I’ve got a quick style quiz for you to prevent that buyer’s remorse.
It is a good idea to know your style (or styles) before you start shopping for the space you’re trying to decorate. Identifying the style or styles that you like best can help you to buy pieces that fit that aesthetic. You don’t have to have everything match in one style, but it CAN make your space look more cohesive.
See which one of these styles appeals to you from the list below. This is an exercise that I like people that I work with to take. The results give us an idea of the target that we’re aiming for. Let’s get started. Let me know in the comments any style that I missed.
1. Coastal Style
First let’s start with a popular one: Coastal. If you think “Coastal,” you think Serena and Lily. That’s another way to do it. Look at a retailer to see, “Oh, okay, my style must be Coastal because I love Serena & Lily.”
2. Cottage Core Style
Number two is Cottage Core. If you like this style, you probably like antiques and vintage decor.
3. Industrial Style
Number three, let’s go the complete opposite end of the spectrum: Industrial. If I was going to think of a retailer, I might think more like CB2.
4. Traditional Style
Traditional style is a classic. This style might be something you like if you love Ballard Designs. Ballard is a retailer that has a lot of traditional pieces.
5. Transitional Style
Next, is Transitional and it is close to Traditional style. There are a lot of different retailers you can go to for Transitional. By definition, Transitional is a combination of Traditional and Modern. For example, to achieve this style you might take a few items from Ballard and a few from Restoration Hardware.
6. Japandi Style
Japandi is a fun style. This is more of a minimalist style. It’s similar to kind of a Scandi style. The difference is this style infuses a lot of Japanese elements.
7. Maximalist Style
Maximalist is a style that’s also popular right now and is sort of in response to a minimalist Japandi. This style is when you like a lot of color and art. You like your space to feel packed with a lot of elements.
8. Bohemian Style
How about Bohemian? This is a Bohemian space. If I was going to pick a retailer that goes with this style, I would say Anthropologie.
9. Dark Academia Style
Next style is Dark Academia. Ralph Lauren is a retailer that goes with this style.
10. Organic Modern Style
The last is Organic Modern. This is kind of an update to the Farmhouse style. It’s a little bit more modern and not quite as rustic as Farmhouse.
11. Craftsman
A lot of people think of this as a style of house, but it’s a style of furniture. It’s characterized by chairs that look like this and lots of wood moldings. It’s an early American style. If you’re interested in it, look up Gustav Stickley and furniture designed in that era. You’ll see what that style looks like.
12. Eclectic
This style really can’t be defined because it is a mix of styles that are disparate, meaning they look different. It’s a mixture of textures and fabrics that you might not think go together. But by putting them together, it has that wow factor.
13. French Provincial
French Provincial style is characterized by a lot of curved chairbacks or curved legs, natural woods, and natural upholstery.
14. Glam
Comparatively, Glam style is on the opposite end of the spectrum. When you see a space that’s Glam style, it usually has a lot of metals, reflective surfaces or lacquer, and bold colors.
15. Mediterranean
The Mediterranean spaces you’ll often see in warmer climates. The spaces almost feel like they could be used equally outdoors and indoors. They have a rustic feeling to them. Mediterranean style usually has a warm feeling with stone and wood.
16. Mid-Century Modern
Mid-Century Modern style dates back to Germany’s Bauhaus era. If you’re interested in this style, Google Bauhaus and you’ll see all kinds of furniture with this style. This design style has a lot of straight lines, wood, and minimalist furniture.
17. Minimalism
Speaking about minimalism, that’s a style of its own. It is characterized by spaces that have a minimal amount of things in them. There’s no clutter. The furniture has really simple lines. There’s very little pattern and it’s usually a neutral color palette.
18. Modern
If you want to think modern, think Restoration Hardware. It’s usually a neutral color palette. Modern style has a lot of wood, metal, and straight lines.
19. Victorian
On the complete opposite spectrum of Modern is Victorian style. But, there are some modern Victorian spaces. Victorian spaces are characterized by curved lines, rich fabrics, voluminous window treatments, lush upholstery, and detailed woodwork.
20. Scandinavian
Last but not least, Scandinavian. This style has a lot of warmth to it, using natural woods and thick textures.
One thing I want you to notice when you’re looking at images to figure out your style is why you are drawn to the images. If you like the same images, just be sure what you’re drawn to in the image are furnishings, artwork, textures, and fabrics, and not architecture.
I’ve found that we can all fall for architecture easily. We can be drawn to images that have amazing windows and big fireplaces. In reality, our house is never going to look the same because our home or our apartment doesn’t have those architectural features. Make sure what you like about the space is what is in it and not the actual space itself.
Now that you have an idea of what your style is, it’s time to work on a mood board to help you with a room that you’re decorating. I’ve got another post that talks about how to pull together a mood board, which can actually save you money if you’re working on decorating a room. It saves money because you don’t end up making those mistakes where you buy something, and you get home and think, “Oh, what was I thinking?” Be sure to check out that post.